diff --git a/find_duplicate_files/find_duplicate_files.py b/find_duplicate_files/find_duplicate_files.py
index fd246b2..63b256d 100644
--- a/find_duplicate_files/find_duplicate_files.py
+++ b/find_duplicate_files/find_duplicate_files.py
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ class find_duplicate_files:
     def _check_file_cache(self, file):
         file_sql = file.replace("'", "''")
         query = f"SELECT hash FROM files WHERE file = '{file_sql}'"
+        if isinstance(query, bytes):
+            query = query.decode('utf-8')
         try:
             result = self.cur.execute(query)
         except Exception as error:
@@ -75,6 +77,8 @@ class find_duplicate_files:
     def _cache_file(self, file, hash):
         file_sql = file.replace("'", "''")
         query = f"INSERT INTO files (hash, file) VALUES ('{file_sql}', '{hash}')"
+        if isinstance(query, bytes):
+            query = query.decode('utf-8')
         try:
             result = self.cur.execute(query)
         except Exception as error: